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Recursion

Recursion

Science FictionPsychological Thriller
Pages
329
Published
2019
Language
English

Synopsis

New York City is gripped by a bizarre new affliction. Its victims are struck by False Memory Syndrome, waking one day with vivid, detailed memories of an entire life they never lived, complete with spouses, children, and homes that do not exist. NYPD detective Barry Sutton is investigating the phenomenon when it collides with his own past and the daughter he lost years ago.

Meanwhile, brilliant neuroscientist Helena Smith has devoted her life to building a device that can preserve a person's most precious memories, a gift she dreams of giving her mother, who is slipping into Alzheimer's. But her invention is far more powerful, and far more dangerous, than she ever intended.

As Barry and Helena's paths converge, they uncover a technology that does not just record memory but reshapes reality itself, and unleashes a catastrophe that threatens to unravel the world. Recursion is a propulsive, mind-bending thriller about memory, time, and the terrifying weight of the choices we would give anything to undo.

Prose complexity
7/10

Vibe

TenseThought-ProvokingDark
Time LoopMultiple POVsDual Timeline

Genres

Science Fiction Psychological Thriller Thriller Suspense Techno-Thriller Time Travel

About the author

B
Blake Crouch

Blake Crouch (born William Blake Crouch, October 15, 1978, in Statesville, North Carolina) is an American novelist and screenwriter. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he writes primarily thriller and science-fiction novels. He is best known for the Wayward Pines trilogy, adapted into a 2015 television series for Fox executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, and for the bestselling novels Dark Matter (2016), Recursion (2019) — winner of the 2019 Goodreads Choice Award...

Characters

Helena SmithProtagonist

A neuroscientist whose memory-preservation chair, built for her Alzheimer's-stricken mother, becomes something far more dangerous.

Barry SuttonProtagonist

An NYPD detective haunted by the death of his daughter, drawn into the False Memory Syndrome investigation.

Marcus SladeAntagonist

The wealthy tech founder who bankrolls Helena's research and turns the memory chair to his own ends.

Meghan (Recursion)Supporting

Barry and Julia's daughter, killed in a hit-and-run shortly before her sixteenth birthday.

All characters in Recursion

Frequently asked questions

  • Is Recursion a sequel to Dark Matter?

    No. Recursion is a standalone novel with no shared characters or setting. It is simply the book Blake Crouch published after Dark Matter (2016), and the two are often shelved together because both are science-fiction thrillers built on a single mind-bending premise. You can read them in either order, or read only one.

  • What is False Memory Syndrome in Recursion?

    False Memory Syndrome is the affliction NYPD detective Barry Sutton is investigating at the start of the book. Its victims wake with complete, vivid memories of a life they never lived — spouses, children, homes and careers that do not exist — while their actual life remains intact alongside it. The condition spreads through New York and beyond, and tracing its cause is what pulls Barry into the story's central mystery.

  • Is Recursion being adapted for film or television?

    Netflix acquired the rights to develop Recursion as a feature film and connected television series, with Shonda Rhimes producing and Matt Reeves directing and producing. Netflix and Penguin Random House both announced the project, but it has remained in development and no release date has been announced.

  • Is Recursion told from more than one point of view?

    Yes. The book alternates between two protagonists on two timelines: NYPD detective Barry Sutton, beginning in 2018, and neuroscientist Helena Smith, beginning in 2007. Their chapters run in parallel for much of the book before the two strands meet, and the alternating structure is central to how the story's puzzle is assembled.

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